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| 23 September 2008
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KUALA LUMPUR, 23 Sept 2008: The police today recorded a statement from a Malaysian university student in Taiwan who insulted the national anthem Negaraku and mocked the government through a video.

Wee Meng Chee, 25, accompanied by his parents, was seen entering the Commercial Crime Investigation Department’s cyber and multimedia investigation division at the Bukit Perdana Government Complex here about 10.30am.

The police spent about three hours recording his statement.

“It was just a normal interview…I was asked to sign off on the lyrics (of the Negaraku song which he renamed Negarakuku and written in Chinese). They asked me to translate (the lyrics into Bahasa Malaysia),” he told reporters after the interview by the police.

When asked by reporters whether he would be charged and under what section of the law, Wee said: “I don’t know, I just play music, I don’t play law.”

Asked what transpired during the interview, Wee said the police took down his name, identity card number and asked “normal questions”.

He said the police were kind to him, adding that he spent almost three hours translating the Negarakuku song.

To a question, Wee said he did not bring a lawyer along as he was prepared to give his statement to the police.

“They were just doing their job and I’m doing mine,” said Wee who returned home three weeks ago after completing his studies in Taiwan.

“Because I am pursuing mass communication (studies), I will work in the media like you,” said Wee, who is currently looking for a job here.

Wee, who goes by the nickname, ‘Namewee’, in a video clip, had sung the Negaraku littered with obscenities in the five-minute, 32-second video clip on YouTube website in July 2007.

Meanwhile, the division’s assistant director, ACP Mohd Kamarudin Md Din, said the police had just begun their investigation into the case.

“The case is not closed yet, it is still under investigation…once finished, we will refer (the case) to the deputy public prosecutor,” he said when contacted, adding that the case was being investigated under the Sedition Act. – Bernama